


Visions of the Past

by Adagal



Series: Between the Phases [3]
Category: Gorillaz
Genre: Angst, Comfort, Flashbacks, Gen, Nightmare, One-Shot, between phases 3 and 4, bit of Violence, bit of smoking, one or two swears, references to phase 3, refrences to phase 2
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-30
Updated: 2019-06-30
Packaged: 2020-05-31 00:13:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,131
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19414438
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Adagal/pseuds/Adagal
Summary: Little one-off in which Noodle has a nightmare and Murdoc does his best to help her.





	Visions of the Past

_Noodle readjusted the cat mask on her face. Despite the way it looked, she was able to see quite well out of it. Slowly, she picked up the briefcase she left on the ground, and headed onto the cruise ship. She was lucky to make it on in time, for as soon as she got on, the ship had set off._

_Suddenly, the scene shifted around her. Noodle was in her room on the cruise ship now, air sirens blaring so loud they might've burst her eardrums at any given moment. The blares were then followed by a hasty knock on the door, with one of the staff poking his head in._

"Madam? The ship is under attack by pirates! I've been sent to escort you to the lifeboats!" 

_Under the mask, Noodle's face became a mix of shock and anxiety. Somehow, she knew pirates were the cause of this. She strolled over to the briefcase that lay on the table near her and opened it up. Inside lay a Tommy gun. Perfect. Noodle pushed up her mask so her mouth was visible, loaded the gun and cocked it, heading out of her room. Behind her, she could hear the staff calling her._

"Madam? Oh dear." 

_Suddenly, the scene shifted around Noodle again, switching to a setting she knew all too well. She was now much younger, around 14 or 15, and on the windmill island, shooting the El Mañana video, judging by her clothing and hairstyle._

_Looking up from where she sat on the edge of the island, she could see in the distance the helicopters, their guns poised on the island. Instantly, before the guns had a chance to fire, she turned and ran into the windmill for safety, much like she had all those years ago. Even though she knew the bullets were fake like Murdoc had said, it still felt all too real, especially as the gunfire commenced._

_Crouching down in the windmill, Noodle was shaking. She couldn't hear the gunfire anymore, maybe they were gone? She so badly wanted to perk her head up, take a peek outside, her bangs being a shield between the outside and her own two eyes, but she didn't want to. She couldn't._

_Her head buried between her knees, Noodle could feel the world around her shift once more. Now she was back on the cruise ship, her clothes back to the dress, mask and socks she grew too familiar with, and her gun out, waiting for the pirate jets to swoop in close. As soon as she saw a hint of black piercing through the pink and orange sunset sky, she opened fire. And the jet fired back. Well, more like two jets were firing back._

_Breathing heavily, Noodle kept her eyes focused on the planes in front of her, and making sure she was pointing her gun in the right direction. The sound of gunfire ringed sharply through the air, but as long as Noodle was focused, she could hardly hear the gunfire at all._

_Despite being outnumbered greatly, she kept firing until she eventually hit one of the jets, right at the pilot. Even from so far away, she could see the blood covering the glass barrier of the cockpit. The jet then tumbled down into the sea. One down, one to go._

_Just then, the other jet dropped an object down. After a split second, Noodle recognized the object to be a bomb. Quickly, she ran away from it as far as she could, managing to snatch up her guitar, and jumped off the boat just as the bomb collided. Only this time, Noodle didn't manage to land in the sea as she did previously. This time, she fell into a black void, her gun and guitar case evaporating before her eyes._

_Staring down as she fell, she could feel her mask slip off her head, the only thing she had protecting her face from the outside. Then again, she probably didn't need it now, as she wasn't going anywhere but down. But at the same time, the mask falling away now caused her life to flash before her eyes, from her military training, to arriving at Kong Studios in the FedEx crate, to all the other moments she had with the band from then to now. All of this culminated in a large image of Murdoc's face appearing beneath her, asking,_

"Ya ready Noodle? This is gonna be great!" 

_Murdoc then suddenly got shot in the head, presumably by one of the pirates that was after Murdoc while he resided on Plastic Beach. Noodle screamed at the sight of her bandmate's head getting blown apart, blood, gore, skin and other green and red bits falling down with her._

Noodle suddenly bolted upright in bed, letting out a small scream. She could feel her heart racing, her breathing heavy, and tears forming quickly in her eyes. 

_It was all a dream Noodle, you're ok,_ Noodle thought to herself. But she couldn't stop the sobs that quickly followed, and very loud ones at that. She grasped her head with one hand and pulled it to her knees, while the other arm wrapped itself around her stomach, gripping onto the back of her ribs.

A sharp knock on her door caused the frightened girl to screech. Shuddering, she convinced herself it was nobody nasty, and it was probably one of her bandmates coming to check on her. 

"C-c-come in," Noodle sobbed. And in entered Murdoc, wearing a black tank top and his boxers, and with a worried look on his face.

"You alright love? I heard you screaming from across the hall. Just wanted to check in." 

Noodle only responded with half sentences filled with quick gasps for air and sobs. Murdoc walked to Noodle's bed and sat down next to her. 

"Ya have a bad dream?" Murdoc asked, his voice a low murmur. Still gasping for air, Noodle nodded quickly. 

"Here, let me see your face for a sec." Murdoc reached over to Noodle's face and slowly lifted her chin up towards him. The scar she had from way back when was still visible, albeit much more faded than when he and 2D first saw her arrive with a giant Russel to Plastic Beach. 

"Were you dreaming about the shit you went through during El Mañana again?" Murdoc asked. 

Noodle nodded. "And the cruise ship."

Murdoc wrapped the crying girl in a tight embrace, one she happily welcomed. 

"Deep breaths," Murdoc whispered. "Come on Noodle, deep breaths. One hand on your stomach, then breathe in, hold, and breathe out." 

Noodle broke away from Murdoc's embrace to use his tactic. Placing her hand that was gripped onto her ribs now on her stomach, she took a breath in, held it for a few seconds, then let the breath back out. After a minute of this, she was breathing a little better now. 

"Nice job Noodle," Murdoc said. "Now, do you want to tell me exactly what happened in your dream, or is it all self-explanatory?"

Noodle took a breath in, ready to explain, but ended having a coughing fit, resulting in her gagging and sounding almost about to puke. When that was over, she started to explain, her voice shaky with quick gasps of air in between. 

"I-I-I can explain. First, I was getting on the cruise ship, then I was on the cruise ship and the Black Cloud were attacking it so I got out the gun and went to the deck, then I was on the windmill island, cause we were shooting the El Mañana video, and I was getting attacked by the helicopters, I couldn't look up to see if they were gone! Then I was back on the cruise ship and I was shooting at the jets, and they were shooting back. I managed to hit one and it went down, then I saw the other one was dropping a bomb, so I ran off the ship and jumped into the water, but it wasn't water, it was like a-a void, I saw my life flash before my eyes, then I saw you, and you died, you got shot in the head, it was horrifying, then I woke up." 

As soon as she was done, Noodle broke down into tears again, but now with added coughing fits in between her sobs.

"Aw Noodle," Murdoc said softly, giving Noodle another hug.

"We were all very worried about you after the El Mañana video shoot. We didn't know what we'd do without you. But we're all very glad to see you're ok now. I'm so sorry you had to go through all that shit." 

Noodle buried her forehead into Murdoc's shoulder and started crying through her clenched teeth. Murdoc slowly rubbed her back.

"It's ok love, you're safe now. We're safe now. And I'm not planning on leaving any time soon, ok?" 

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah," Noodle sobbed. She hugged Murdoc tightly, making groaning noises through her teeth, like she was in restraint or something. But Murdoc had heard those noises before, and he knew she was actually trying hard not to scream. Instantly, an idea formed in Murdoc's head. 

Murdoc got up from the bed, trying to let Noodle up with him. Confused, Noodle went with Murdoc as they headed down the stairs and out of the house. 

Once outside, Murdoc opened up the garage near their house. Taking Noodle by the hand, he opened the driver's seat door to Stylo and let Noodle get in. 

"W-w-what are y-y-" Noodle stuttered. 

"Trust me, this will help," Murdoc whispered, cutting Noodle off from questioning. "If you scream from here or in the house or anywhere else, a bunch of people will hear and get worried about you. But if you scream in this car, no one will have to hear you. You can scream as loud as you need to, as long as you'd like. And whenever you're done, I'll be sitting on the front steps waiting. Ok?" 

Noodle nodded quickly and closed the door. A few seconds later, Murdoc could hear muffled yelling coming from Noodle sitting inside Stylo. 

To bide his time, like he said, Murdoc wandered to the front steps and sat down, taking out a cigarette and lighting it. Looking up at the sky, he took a drag off the cigarette and thought about his time on Plastic Beach. From finding it, to building the Cyborg Noodle, to kidnapping 2D and getting the other collaborators, to the encounter with the Boogeyman. 

He thought about the tough patches he could feel himself going through, and how he spent some times screaming his anxieties away in his sub, like Noodle was at that moment, or breaking down in his room, where nobody but Cyborg Noodle was there, and even then she couldn't judge him, she was an unfeeling, unthinking robot. 

Murdoc also remembered him doing his pirate radio, how much fun he had just gabbing, rambling, and playing his music, even if he thought no one was there to hear him, except maybe 2D. It was probably the only thing besides making the album at the time that brought him genuine joy in his life. 

Murdoc took a long drag off his cigarette, then smushed it out on the steps. He was done for the night. 

Suddenly, he heard a car door open and slam shut, and Noodle came back around to the front steps. She was shaking pretty hard, and knowing it was still pretty warm outside, it was most likely from the screaming session. 

"You ok now?" Murdoc asked. 

"Yeah," Noodle said, her voice a little more raspy. "I'm really sorry, I should've tried to communicate with you better, I didn't want anyone to get hurt." 

"No no no! Don't be! If anything, I should be the one who's sorry! If I'd known where you were during all that chaos all that time ago, I would've gone off that bloody beach and try to find you as fast as I could!" Murdoc cried. 

Noodle chuckled. "You didn't know though, and that's ok. Besides, I had Russel with me while we were searching for the beach. Knowing someone was there with me was all I could ask for. 

"Oh, before I forget, I need to tell you this. We had a radio, Russel and I, while we wandered through the sea looking for Plastic Beach, and managed to hijack it to get your radio show. You have a nice taste in music. And also..." 

Noodle gave Murdoc a hug and a peck on the cheek. 

"Thanks for those belated birthdays wishes." 

Murdoc started tearing up. "No prob love." 

"Now let's head back," Noodle said. And they ran up the stairs and into the house.


End file.
